Tool for lifting bottle caps and lids



March 31, 1964 R. A. FEILER 3,126,771

TOOL FOR LIFTING BOTTLE CAPS AND LIDS Filed July 30, 1962 0 28 /8 FIG. 4

22 /6.1 Q 52 6 A INVENTOR Rober/ ,4. Fe/'/er ATTORNEY United StatesPatent O 3,126,771 TOOL FOR LIFTING BOTTLE CAPS AND LIDS Robert A.Feiler, 1002 E. St. Germain St, St. Cloud, Minn. Filed July 30, 1962,Ser. No. 213,244 Claims. (Cl. 81-346) This invention relates to a toolfor lifting or removing pressed on covers, lids or caps from glass jars,bottles, cans or other types of containers.

A further object of this invention is to provide a combination toolwhereby a metal or other cover or lid, having a peripheral dependingflange press fitted over the top of the container, may be lifted andremoved from the container without being seriously damaged so that itmay be readily used as a cover for the container while the contents arebeing used up, and in the case of a crown cap, may be rescaled to thecontainer by use of this tool.

A further object of this invention is to provide combination tool which,in addition, may be provided with a can puncturing tooth at an endthereof opposite from the handle end.

A further object of this invention is to provide a cap and lid liftingtool which may be used for lifting or opening not only crown caps butalso pressed on jar lids of various diameters, and which is providedwith a secondary fulcrum area as well as a primary fulcrum which comeinto successive operation, particularly in use on a large diameter lid.

Still a further object of this invention is to provide serratedprojections on each lid or cap engaging portion of this tool tofacilitate the operation of the tool.

Still a further object of this invention is to provide a tool which isan integrally formed or integrally joined one piece structure with nomovable parts.

With the foregoing and other objects in view, as will hereinafter becomeapparent, this invention comprises the construction, combination andarrangement of parts as hereinafter disclosed, claimed and illustratedin the drawing wherein,

FIGURE 1 is a bottom plan view of the tool of this invention.

FIGURE 2 is a side elevation of FIGURE 1.

FIGURE 3 is a sectional view on line 3-3 of FIG- URE 1.

FIGURE 4 is a fragmentary detail sectional view of the recappingapertured flange of this tool.

FIGURE 5 is a bottom plan view of a modified form.

FIGURE 6 is a side elevational view of FIGURE 5.

There is shown at 10 the combination tool of this invention having alongitudinally extending handle 12 and a laterally widened head portion14 having at two of its side edge depending flanges 16 formingsubstantially a right angle to each other. Extending from the bottom ofthe flanges 16 on the side away from the apex of the right angle is alid or cap flange engaging ledge provided with serrated projections 20along its upper edge to facilitate engagement with the cap or lidflange.

Located in the widened head portion and silghtly spaced from the flanges16 is a somewhat V-shaped primary fulcrum depending ridge 22, with itsapex 24 pointing toward the apex 26 between the flanges 16. This3,126,771 Patented Mar. 31, 1964 fulcrum ridge 22 Widens out toward itsapex 24 and a series of serrated projections 28 is located on thisfulcrum ridge 22 as shown. The widened head portion 14 is somewhat spadeshaped, and along its longitudinal axis there is provided secondaryfulcrum area 30 having serrated projections 32 depending therefrom.Intermediate the fulcrum area 30 and the V-shaped fulcrum ridge 22 thereis located a recapping portion consisting of upwardly and inwardlyinclined flange 34 about an aperture 36 of a diameter suitable to permitthe flange 34 to fit over a crown cap 38 for pressing it down on themouth 48 of a bottle 42 as shown in FIG. 4. To operate this feature theflange 34 is merely placed about the crown cap 38 in position on thebottle mouth and pressed downwardly, with suflicient pressure.

In operation, to remove the cap 38, the tool is placed with the ledges18 under the cap flange 44, as illustrated in FIG. 1 and the apex 24 ofthe primary fulcrum is pressed down on its further edge while the capflanges 44 are lifted by the ledges 18, the serrated projections 20serving to engage the cap flanges 44 more securely to lift the crown capwith a minimum of deformation, so that it may readily be recapped, asset forth above.

This tool 10 serves equally for opening the lid 46 of a large jar 48 byengaging the same ledges 18 under the flange 50 of the lid 46, asillustrated in FIG. 1 and FIG. 3.

In this case, the serrations 20 of ledges 18 on flanges 16 engage underspaced apart areas of the edge of lid 46, as shown in FIGS. 1 and 3, andthe outermost serrations 28 on primary fulcrum ridge 22 contact the topof the lid 46 at spaced apart areas, so as to cause a spreading apartaction on the lid edges as the secondary fulcrum ridges 32 contact thediametrically opposite edge of the lid 46 and the jar 48 to thus spreadout the lid edges and lift the lid from the jar.

The tool 10 shown in FIGS. 5 and 6 has its handle 12' extend from theopposite end of the spade shaped widened head portion 12', and while theflanges 16' and ledges 18 extend at right angles to each other, they donot meet at the apex, but a can puncturing tooth 52 having a can edgeengaging lip 54 extends from apex area of the flanges 16'. Except thatthe handle 12' is pressed downwardly instead of being lifted upwardly inoperation, the operation is otherwise the same, and the parts arepointed out by the same reference numbers but with primes attachedthereto, whereby the above description applies equally thereto.

It is to be understood that the preferred forms of this invention havebeen described and illustrated, but that obvious changes andmodification may be made within the scope of this invention ashereinafter claimed.

Having thus set forth and disclosed the nature of this invention, whatis claimed is:

1. A combination tool for lifting various sizes of caps and lids fromcontainers comprising a longitudinal handle lever, a laterally widenedhead portion at the forward end of said handle lever, said head portionhaving at each of two sides of its longitudinal axis a downwardlyextending flange and a forwardly extending cap and lid edge engagingledge, said two flanges being substantially at right angles to eachother, a somewhat V-shaped primary fulcrum depending ridge with its apexextending 3 toward the apex between said flanges, and a secondary flangeledges, on said primary fulcrum depending ridge, fulcrum area in saidhead portion along its longitudinal and in said secondary fulcrum area.

axis and spaced from said primary fulcrum.

. Ref e t h' t t 2. The tool of claim 1, and serrated pro ections onerenc s Clted m he file oft 18 pa en said flange ledges. 5 UNITED STATESPATENTS 3. The tool of claim 1, and serrated projections on 2,031,420Lebherz Feb. 18, 1936 said primary fulcrum depending ridge. 2,1 18,159Castner May 24, 1938 4. The tool of claim 1, and serrated projections insaid 2,430,651 Shanahan Nov. 11, 1947 secondary fulcrum area. 2,545,979Tregear Mar. 20, 1951 5. The tool of claim 1, and serrated projectionson said 10 2,801,557 Belpedio Aug. 6, 1957

1. A COMBINATION TOOL FOR LIFTING VARIOUS SIZES OF CAPS AND LIDS FROMCONTAINERS COMPRISING A LONGITUDINAL HANDLE LEVER, A LATERALLY WIDENEDHEAD PORTION AT THE FORWARD END OF SAID HANDLE LEVER, SAID HEAD PORTIONHAVING AT EACH OF TWO SIDES OF ITS LONGITUDINAL AXIS A DOWNWARDLYEXTENDING FLANGE AND A FORWARDLY EXTENDING CAP AND LID EDGE ENGAGINGLEDGE, SAID TWO FLANGES BEING SUBSTANTIALLY AT RIGHT ANGLES TO EACHOTHER, A SOMEWHAT V-SHAPED PRIMARY FULCRUM DEPENDING RIDGE WITH ITS APEXEXTENDING TOWARD THE APEX BETWEEN SAID FLANGES, AND A SECONDARY FULCRUMAREA IN SAID HEAD PORTION ALONG ITS LONGITUDINAL AXIS AND SPACED FROMSAID PRIMARY FULCRUM.